Inspiring Wellness Success Story 13

'Eat the Elephant one slice at a time'.

Next in our series of success stories, a powerful illustration of how some simple planning with sleep, exercise and how much coffee to drink led to improved energy levels lasting for years.  A very clear example of how a few moments of focused thought can result in better performance and enhanced enjoyment of life for the long term.

Here's what made the difference for this individual:
The date of the wellness programme you attended 

Spring 2008

The lifestyle changes you made during programme

• Getting more sleep
• Taking regular exercise
• Drinking less coffee 
• Thinking in the morning, about when I am going to sleep at night. It secures a better rhythm, and it was something I learned from you

The lifestyle changes that have stuck with you to the present day 

All of the above

The secrets of your success with wellbeing 

Eat the elephant one slice at a time. If I had tried to do massive changes I am sure it would not have stuck. With the smaller adjustments I made, these have stuck as they were easy to implement - and they have made a big difference.

What advice that you received made the greatest impact on you? 

When you get up in the morning already start thinking about when you are going to bed at night

The biggest benefits of making your lifestyle changes? 

More surplus energy

Anything that got in the way of success with wellbeing 

No - as with all changes, they take time and there will be lapses. But having made small changes, these are easy to revert to if I have fallen off course

When wellbeing is working for you, what are the key elements that make the difference?  

Plan your sleep
 

Read the previous instalment of our Inspiring Wellness Success Stories here

Order your copy of “Successful Corporate Wellbeing Programmes: How to create a dynamic, energised and engaged workforce and boost business results” from our website today.

Image from Flickr: ohad*

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Manage stress, feel great, lose weight

6 ways to stay focused, boost energy and live longer

February is National Heart Month so it's a great time to think about your blood pressure.  High blood pressure is a risk factor for a heart attack or a stroke yet, according to the British Heart Foundation, as many as 5 million people in the UK go about their daily business with undiagnosed high blood pressure.

Worse than that, in a survey that we conducted with over 300 people, we discovered that more than 75% of them had high blood pressure, a real danger sign for the state of their physical health. We were shocked.

Most people appreciate that living with high levels of stress contributes to high blood pressure but what's really frightening is that so many people don't know they're living with unsafe stress levels every single day.

Here's how we'd advise anyone who regularly encounters stressful situations and who could be risking high blood pressure or even more serious consequences for their health.

1. Get tested.

Even if you don't feel particularly stressed, our bodies are quite often under stress when we're busy with many things at once, rushing around and eating on the go. The only way you'll know if your lifestyle is taking a toll on your long-term health is to get your blood pressure checked.

2. Get tested regularly.

Some stress, at some times can be a good thing. It can bring out the best in us. However, too much stress for too long can cause health issues. You must monitor what's going on with your body at regular intervals and never let abnormal readings persist for too long.

3. Get some perspective.

High blood pressure is an early warning for possible major health implications. It may feel good to live on stress and nervous energy for now, but it won't help you in the long run. And who says living this way is actually getting the best out of you anyway? How do you know you won't be more effective if you manage your stress better on a day-to-day basis?

Think about it.  Could you be doing things differently, more efficiently, living happier and feeling better every day?

There's only one way to find out and that's to experiment with some new approaches and see what results you get. Here are a few simple lifestyle changes that have a huge positive impact on your health but also, crucially, on how you feel, from the moment you get up to the time you go to bed.

1. Make sure you eat

Sounds obvious but so many people are just too busy or they don't make food a priority.  Then they suddenly realise that it's 6pm and they haven't had any food all day.  If you don't fuel your body with food, you'll need regular bursts of adrenalin to keep going.  Too much adrenalin in your system, for too long, will stress your system and raise your blood pressure.  

A steady intake of food throughout the day means your body works with good energy rather than adrenalin, and you keep your blood pressure steady.

2. Watch your caffeine intake

Drinking caffeine is like taking a quick hit of adrenalin into your system.  Do this too often and your system becomes stressed trying to rebalance the amount of adrenalin in your bloodstream.  

Too much caffeine can also impair your ability to focus and get things done which means physical stress can also become mental stress.  Stick with a maximum of two cups of coffee or tea a day.

3. Avoid processed foods and sugary snacks

Meals and snacks containing lots of sugar cause your blood sugar levels to rise rapidly.  If your blood sugar levels rise too high, too often, your system has to continually produce insulin to counteract this.  Too much of this each day stresses your body.  

Instead eat natural products, wholemeal carbohydrates and make sure you always have some protein with every meal or snack.  Eating this way releases energy into the system slowly and helps maintain a stable environment.

If you need any extra incentive to make these changes part of your regular routine, there’s also a weight management factor to consider. A body under stress will not use food effectively or burn calories efficiently.  This will lead to weight gain or difficulty in losing unwanted pounds.  

So remember the stress reduction / weight management top tips:

1. Eating the right foods regularly means you won't suffer from a slow metabolism or hang on to unnecessary body fat.  

2. Minimising caffeine creates stable fat burning conditions in your body.  

3. Avoiding excess sugar means you won't consume too many calories each day.  

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Reasons Why Corporate Wellbeing Programmes Work

We completed a wellbeing programme for one of our clients this afternoon. We reviewed the progress that participants made during the programme and awarded prizes to those who had been most successful.

The entire group made a fantastic effort to engage in their wellbeing and think about the behaviour changes that would really make a difference to their personal and professional lives. Below is a summary of the changes they made, and the benefits they experienced by making these changes. It’s quite a long list and it illustrates brilliantly how effective wellbeing programmes like this can be.

It makes you think how great it would be to work in an organisation full of people like this operating in an environment where everyone is thinking about how they look after themselves and their colleagues, and all are experiencing positive, tangible results from just a little extra focus on this key area of their lives.

Consider how results like these would affect your organisation and the people within it, and if you’re in a position to help set up wellbeing initiatives, think about how you can put them in place sooner rather than later. There’s nothing to be gained by delaying results as positive as the ones we witnessed today.

Changes the group made:

· Increased exercise

· Increased fruit intake

· Increased vegetable intake

· Decreased coffee intake

· Design of a wellbeing programme for their team

· Increased nuts and seeds as snacks

· Reduced consumption of biscuits

· Implementation of regular eating habits

· Drink more water

· No more skipping meals

· Thinking about the relationship between food and energy

· Taking breakfast regularly

· Reduced alcohol consumption

· Applying a finishing time at work

· Adopting a more positive attitude at home

· Managing technology such as email and telephone in a more productive way

· Reduced smoking

· Stopped smoking

· Taking short breaks through the day

· Reduced consumption of cakes / sugary / fatty snacks

· Increased ‘me’ time

· Decreased weekly working hours

· More time for reading

· Adopted personal food strategy

· Actively managed sleep routine – quality and quantity

· Block out time for self and team reflections

· Taken up a new sport / activity

· Created a healthy snack routine

· Joined the gym with friends

· Reduced TV time

· Increased family time

· Changed portion size of meals and snacks

· Started taking children to school

Benefits experienced by making these changes:

· Feel healthy again

· Feel slimmer and fitter

· Family following good example

· Colleagues following effective leadership

· More time for family / friends

· Quality time with family

· Increased free time

· Better quality relaxation time

· Reduced stress levels

· Feel more relaxed

· Feel Calmer

· Increased energy

· More consistent energy through the day including evening

· Weight loss of up to 5kg

· Improved patience / tolerance

· Control of blood pressure

· Reduced stress, not shouting in the office

· Feel fresher

· Feel more in control

· Positive impact at work and at home

· Smile more

· Feel less nervous

· Better balance between work and personal

· It feels good

· Lightest I’ve been in 5 years

· I like being fit

· Feel more human

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